Overview:

In 2025 the Call of Duty League brought an exciting season to fans. LA Thieves had created the “super team” and the dark horses Miami Heretics and Vancouver Surge rose to the spotlight. Being my second season on CDL, I’d grown more invested in the scene and competitive players. 2025 held two media days, 5 events, and weekly online qualifiers for which new content was constantly prepared. At the end of the season there were 111 unique video deliverables, 5 event photo galleries, and a mass of content posted on social media racking up millions upon millions of impressions. When the year came to an end, an unlikely result yielded the defending Champions OpTic Texas up against the Vancouver Surge in the Grand Final match. Both teams had something to earn, as for OpTic it would be the first back-to-back Championship win in Call of Duty history, and Surge would be able to claim their very first Championship. Each team gave it their all, but OpTic proved the better competitor as they earned another Championship win for their organization and further cemented their legacy.

Deliverables:

Show Opens, Team Heroshots, Player Headshots, Player Video Headshots, Top 5 Videos, Entertainment Content, Awards Videos, Event B-Roll Coverage, Event Photography, Community Update

Collaborators:

Activision, ESL FACEIT Group, Esports Engine, Joe Brady, Loose Films

Challenges:

Media Day is a 10-hour window of time to usher 12 teams of 4 players through several stations. They must get their heroshots, headshots, social media bits, and other necessary content. It must then be turned around and ready to air live on broadcast within 24 hours. It is a fast-paced environment with several moving parts and lots of surprises. Sometimes players are double booked, teams forget to send jerseys with their players, or… someone simply gets lost. With proper planning, time management, and a lot of patience, the production crew was able to successfully prep, build, film, and complete post production on time and on target.